High sickness absence in many organizations is a shame, not only because a team performs best when everyone is present, but also because it incurs significant direct and indirect costs. By 2023, almost 10% of working hours were lost due to absence. This increase sets new records and highlights the urgency of effective action.

Sick leave also has a major impact on workloads within organizations. Teams that are already understaffed due to a lack of available skills have to work harder to ensure continuity and maintain customer satisfaction. This can lead to a vicious circle where high workloads contribute to even more absenteeism.

The talent shortage

The talent shortage only exacerbates the problem. With vacancies going unfilled for longer and longer periods, many teams are structurally understaffed. As a result, it is increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to find replacements for employees on long-term sick leave. This puts even more pressure on remaining team members and increases the need for organizations to develop a strong and collaborative absence policy.

In this context, Mensura and Otherside at Work, with their innovative Xpert Suite software solution, present a way for employers to work together as a team to develop an effective absence management strategy. By bringing together all parties involved - employers, HR and managers - this strategy aims to get and keep employees in Belgium healthy and vital at work.

Bart Teuwen

Bart Teuwen, General Manager Certimed and responsible for the absence offer within Mensura: "In many organizations, the workload of the employees is high, partly due to sky-high absenteeism. With more than 500,000 Belgians suffering from long-term absences, it is necessary to take action. The cost of absenteeism to our government is correspondingly high. In benefits and unpaid taxes alone, the bill amounts to over €21 billion. Not to mention the hallucinatory situations in the workplace. For example, the media has already gone past wards in healthcare facilities and daycare centers that have to temporarily close their doors due to too many absentees."

High time to really tackle absenteeism with a positive absence strategy

A clear vision is the starting point for any successful absence strategy. Why do you consider health and well-being important in your workplace? What are the roles and responsibilities of everyone involved? How will you work on prevention in concrete terms? And what about adapted work?

You then translate that vision into goals and actions. You also set parameters - absence rate, zero absence, absence frequency, etc. - to monitor the impact of your efforts. Focus on feasibility, but make sure you are ambitious enough.

Trust and clear agreements go hand in hand and form the basis of a warm business relationship between employer and employee. Show a genuine interest in the well-being of your employees. Not only during illness, by the way, but also when everyone is just at their post.

An innovative solution by joining forces

"For years, Mensura has offered employers support in formulating and drafting a positive absence policy, training managers and other stakeholders in interviewing techniques, absence figures and legislation, and implementing optimal absence management. This has led to visible results. But we also saw a need from Mensura for better assurance, monitoring, support and insight in the implementation of absence counseling", says Bart Teuwen.

"Through my many years of experience as an occupational physician with our neighbors to the north, I had experience with Otherside at Work. They are the market leader in the Netherlands in software that manages sustainable employability and absenteeism for more than 2 million employees. Together we started talking about how we could realize a solution for Belgian employers. A solution that allows employers to really anchor their absence policy and processes in the organization. With which it can be continuously monitored whether the implementation is in line with the policy and with which managers, HR and employees are supported to work together on absence from a warm business relationship."

Diederik Benders, CEO and founder of Otherside at Work was inspired by Bart Teuwen's question: "In the Netherlands, legislation has made absenteeism an issue that employers have been working very hard on for more than 20 years. The financial consequences of absenteeism are unprecedented for employers in the Netherlands. This is very different in Belgium. But we have one thing in common: at the end of the day, it's about employees being able and willing to stay healthy, vital and happy at work. That employers can be successful and that employees who are at work don't experience unnecessary work pressure because too many colleagues have dropped out due to sick leave."

That employers can be successful and that the employees who are at work do not experience unnecessary work pressure because too many colleagues have dropped out due to sick leave.

"Our software was already suitable for the central aspects of absence management and sustainable employability. With our experience in the Netherlands for all major government agencies and hundreds of business service providers, retail companies, healthcare and educational institutions and various other employers, we have 20 years of experience in supporting an integrated absence strategy in a highly secure software application. Over the past year, we have worked intensively with Mensura to develop a solution that truly fits the Belgian market. After extensive testing, we have now connected the first group of employers, with several thousand employees, to the Xpert Suite for Belgium", says Diederik Benders.

Bart Teuwen: "Through the collaboration between Mensura and Otherside at Work, we can now truly offer a solution where employers are supported in formulating policy, translating it into implementation processes, securing these processes and measuring and evaluating the impact of this policy."

Ambition and technology

"There is a great ambition to get absenteeism under control in Belgium and to have employees working as 'happy professionals' through a positive absence policy. The technology in the Xpert Suite can really actively contribute to this: through more intensive interaction between employee, manager and HR, absence management is better connected to the employee. With interactive questionnaires and data-driven processes, we ensure that employees in need of intensive counseling are identified in time so that the right help can be provided", says Diederik Benders.

Bart Teuwen: "Mensura's knowledge and expertise is built into these processes. So it is really a combination of many years of expertise in the field of absenteeism in Belgium and technology in this field. We can therefore speak of a 'laser focus' on absence and sustainable employability of employees in Belgium. With the collaboration, we have combined a huge amount of expertise in terms of knowledge, services and technology, with which we can make a difference for employers and employees in Belgium."

What does this mean in concrete terms?

Our service offering already consisted of some very concrete opportunities:

• Customized guidance for an effective absence policy
• Training offer for absenteeism
• Inspirational meetings

With this collaboration comes the opportunity to secure the absence policy with software and services:

• Xpert Suite Teamflows: innovative software to which Mensura has contributed its knowledge of intelligent absence management processes
  
  
• Xpert Suite Teamflows Case Management: Mensura's XS software complemented by Mensura's case managers to support employers in the implementation of absence management
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• Xpert Suite Otherside: the Otherside at Work software, suitable for Belgium, which enables employers to independently implement customized processes.
  
  

More information? Contact Frans Prop (+32 494 04 42 01) or Lode Mandervelt (+32 474 97 91 14).

About Mensura

Mensura is an external service for prevention and protection at work in Belgium. Mensura inspires and helps employers to keep employees better, longer and healthier employable. As a specialist in this field, Mensura provides tailor-made advice, solutions and services. In doing so, they go beyond the strictly legal.

About Otherside at work

Since 2003, we have been working with Xpert Suite with a passionate and independent team. We don't provide standard support, but we work in partnership with you. Because together we create the best version of Xpert Suite. And take your absence policy to new heights. With a single goal in mind: satisfied employees.